JOIN USA tie from the brink of defeat
Beset by complaints that the long-winded first phase—dominated by one-sided matches and a plethora of weak teams—was a poor advertisement for the competition, the World Cup received just the fillip it required in a high-profile, high-voltage match that ended without a winner after more than seven and a half hours of dramatic action.
Two sparkling centuries, from Sachin Tendulkar and Andrew Strauss, regaled a capacity holiday crowd; India’s 338 was a healthy compilation, but through their brave skipper England were well on course at 280 for two after 42 overs when Zaheer Khan, horribly expensive in his first spell of 5-0-40-0, struck three decisive blows to help end the visitors’ chase at 338 for eight.
It wasn’t just the first tie of this World Cup, but the first such result in World Cup history for both India and England. The equal sharing of points has left India and England on top of the Group B standings with three points each after two games, India ahead on net run rate.
A fascinating game of several twists and turns that appeared emphatically headed England’s way as Strauss made the highest score by an Englishman in World Cups, a masterly 158 that drove India to their knees. The left-hander dampened Indian spirits with a sustained assault against both pace and spin, dominating partnerships of 68 with Kevin Pietersen and 170 with Ian Bell. But the guile of Zaheer, the sudden persistence of the Indian bowling unit and a dramatic lifting of fielding standards, coupled with England’s self-destructive streak, made this a one-point-apiece contest.
India had looked good for the two full points when they batted first. Virender Sehwag gave them a blistering start by hammering James Anderson, though he could so easily have been dismissed on any of three occasions by the same bowler in the opening over of the match.
Sehwag’s was merely the appetiser before Tendulkar provided the main course with his 47th one-day hundred, which also made him the first batsman to score five World Cup centuries. Tendulkar’s knock didn’t suffer in comparison with man of the match Strauss; it was every bit as entertaining and exhilarating as the England captain’s. Neither man deserved to be on the losing side, so the tie was perhaps the perfect result.